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Refugee advocates have cautiously welcomed news that the NSW Hunter Region could host more asylum seekers under a federal government back-up plan to its Papua New Guinea solution.
Hunter politicians, business leaders and residents were stunned to learn at the weekend that the government had allocated up to $43 million to build a new detention centre at Singleton army base.
The base, which housed 500 Kosovar refugees in 1999, could now house 1000 asylum-seeking detainees.
The plan has been described as a back-up in case the Rudd government's offshore resettling of asylum seekers is unsuccessful.
Sister Diana Santleben, from refugee support centre Penola House in Newcastle, is hopeful any detention centre at Singleton could emulate Camp Greta, which hosted 100,000 migrants after World War II.
Another former army camp, the Greta site about 30 kilometres from Singleton housed European migrants between 1949 and 1960.
Sister Santleben said Singleton could prove a ‘‘much better solution’’ than overseas centres.
"The thing is, it really depends on what kind of facility they are building," she said.
"In the old days [Camp] Greta was a great beginning in Australia because people felt safe and welcome there and they were given time to work out where they could fit into Australia.
"Singleton is basically Greta, [but] the question really is whether it is going to feel like a detention centre or is it going to feel like a migrant centre."
The proposal has been met with shock and surprise in Singleton.
Singleton mayor John Martin said yesterday that he had adopted a wait-and-see attitude to the plan.
"The people I've spoken to are not happy about it," he said.
"If it comes to be later on, we will deal with it as a council the same way we do with everything else."
Though Singleton had successfully cared for almost 500 asylum seekers fleeing Kosovo during 1999, detainees would be unable to integrate with the town in the same way, he said.
"There's a difference between a detention camp, the way I understand it, and the Kosovar refugees," Cr Martin said.
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said the plan was only a plan B if settling asylum seekers in countries including Papua New Guinea should prove unworkable.
The $43 million allocated would cover options Australia-wide, but Singleton's Kosovar experience and infrastructure made it a cost-effective option, he said.
"The infrastructure is there and ready," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"It's a contingency that I believe will never be invoked.
"If it ever comes under serious consideration and the community don't want it, I won't support it."
Upper Hunter MP George Souris blasted the plan as a "king hit announcement" and questioned why Singleton had been left in the dark.
"The $43 million would not go far," Mr Souris said.
"From all I have heard all weekend the Singleton community rejects this out of hand."
The campaign website of Michael Johnsen, Nationals candidate for Hunter and Upper Hunter mayor, added a "No Ruddy Camp" petition on Saturday.
"This is being done behind our backs, with no community consultation, no details and no funding to help our local area deal with a project of this size," the petition said.
Singleton Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary Gill Eason said the proposal could yield positives for the township but more detail was required.
"There's obviously going to be lots of implications and we need to have a look at all of that before we can really make a comment," she said.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the detention plan "just exposes yet again Kevin Rudd's dishonesty", coming so soon after the Prime Minister had announced his tough policy of transferring all boat arrivals to PNG.
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/debdc94a-4a69-48fc-831d-6620c7c28407.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/72ed1c81-c113-4b83-bfdd-702085b5a703.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/8f333727-38d5-4b92-8046-b81f5daf843b.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/1c6787a6-2158-4924-b3d6-d878b84b6fa9.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/b4da3da9-36a5-48cf-80e7-87e7849ed943.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/1062a2db-d88d-4096-89d5-51fc3733d69b.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/dc5825c0-b441-46e2-ad07-a050f25ac040.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/288fe564-be8e-4576-af96-b5977b965bd2.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/bcf74171-b864-47ec-8078-c33e4ace933d.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/2a26f6bd-41e1-4163-b768-8616cc46b767.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/95776cd1-36cd-4232-a8a0-79bbac8cad16.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/05da8ac6-7696-41ec-a1e7-7ee41976b4c3.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia. Images from the Greta camp, which opened 64 years ago to house immigrants settling in Australia.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32BMdhde3WuQNVaNVAFXm76/fde008dd-2743-404b-b915-a3e74bd69323.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)